Dispensing package for aprons



March 31, 1970 Z ET AL 3,503,494

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR APRONS Filed Jan. 7, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ROBE X$TZ LAMONT F. ANDREWS ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 206-57 2Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A package of thin sheet-plastic apronsor the like stacked for individual dispensing. A rack is folded from aflat sheet to provide major upstanding portions against the front andrear walls of an outer box and a series of major upstanding portions inbetween, with minor bottom portions resting on the bottom wall of theouter box and cooperating with the major portions and the box to porvidecompartments. In the series of major upstanding portions, two majorportions back up each other and are folded fiat against each other bytop folds, each group of two such major portions being separated fromthe next major portion on each side by a minor portion. A stack ofplastic articles is then supported accordion fashion by the rack in thebox.

This invention relates to an improved package for plastic aprons and thelike.

Plastic aprons are cut from thin sheet plastic and are intended to bedisposable. They are used in kitchens, laboratories, darkrooms,hospitals, and other places where it is important to protect onesclothing and where it is considered undesirable to have aprons cleanedoften but where it is yet important to use clean aprons.

The plastic aprons being quite thin and being disposable, it isimportant to have them readily accessible. Individual packaging does notmeet this need and greatly increases the total cost. Nor can a stack ofaprons conveniently be packaged fully open and flat, because of the widearea that would involve. If the aprons were to be folded into a smallpackage and stacked, they would become quite inconvenient to get out andalso inconvenient to package, due to the number of folds that would haveto be made. It is also inconvenient to have them packaged in rolls or insuch a partially folded shape that they must have two or threeunfoldings.

The present invention solves this problem by providing, in addition toan outer box which may be square in cross section in one direction andrectangular in the other, an inner rack which serves to support theaprons so that they can be folded once, then stacked fiat, and thenbrought by the rack to a kind of accordion-like shape of An outstandingconvenience of this package is that one can grasp the apron at any ofseveral visible and accessible folds when the package is opened and pullout a single apron without disturbing any of the other aprons. Thedispensing is both very quick and convenient. From the manufacturersstandpoint, the packaging is also quite convenient, since it is quitesimple to stack the aprons in a once-folded condition on top of eachother, to make a vertical stack of the aprons on top of the corrugatedsheet from which the rack is to be folded, while it is still flat, andthen to fold this corrugated sheet into its accordion-like position andplace it into the outs de box.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will ap- 3,503,494Patented Mar. 31, 1970 pear from the following description of apreferred form thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a package embodying the principles ofthe present invention, with the top of the package open so that apronscan be dispensed therefrom.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one of the plastic aprons of the package ofFIG. 1, unfolded to a fully fiat condition and indicating the fold lineby which it is given a single fold before being stacked and in whichfolded form it comes out of the carton when dispensed.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the inner retainer rack before folding andbefore laying the stack of aprons thereon.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view in elevation and in section taken along theline 44 in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the invention comprises an outer carton orbox in which may be a fairly standard type of box, preferably made fromcorrugated paper, an inner retainer rack 11 also preferably made fromcorrugated paper, and a stack 12 of the aprons 13.

The box 10 preferably has square end walls 14 and 15, rectangular front,back, and bottom walls 16, 17, and 18 and a unitary hinged cover 20 witha top wall 21 and flaps 22, 23, and 24, joined by a fold line 25 to therear wall 17.

One of the plastic aprons 13 is shown in FIG. 2. As will be seen, theapron 13 can be cut out by so-called cookie cutters from sheet plasticwithout any other manufacturing step, and is provided with an integralneckstrap portion 26 which encloses a head and neck opening 27 and leadsdown to the main portion 28 covering the chest of the wearer. It alsohas a pair of integral ties 29 and 30 which extend out from the sides 31and 32 and are brought around back and tied when the apron 13 is worn.For use in this invention, each apron 13 is individually folded onceonly before packaging along its longitudinal center line 33 indicated inFIG. 2 to reduce the width of the package. Then they are all stackedflat on each other.

The retainer rack 11 used in this invention comprises a corrugated papersheet having a series of fold lines, and it will be noted that readingfrom the left to right in FIG. 3 there is an edge separated by a majorportion 41 from a fold line 42 which is spaced by a minor portion 43 ashort distance away from the next fold line 44. The fold line 44 isseparated by another major portion 45 from a sharper type of fold line46, which is mainly a cut 47 with folds 48 and 49 at the edges only, sothat the next major portion 50 can be folded quite flat against themajor portion 45. This continues section after section in this mannerwith fold line 51 joining the major portion 50 to a minor portion 52,and a fold line 53 joining the minor portion 52 to the major portion 54.Then a fold line 55 like the fold line 47 enables a major portion 56 tobe folded flat against the major portion 55. Thence follow in order afold line 57, a minor portion 58, a fold line 59, a major portion 60, afold line 61, a major portion 62, a fold line 63, a minor portion 64, afold line 65, and a major portion 66.

The result, when the rack 11 is folded, is shown in FIG. 4, in whichthere are erect major portions 41 and 66 at each end and a series ofdouble thickness erect retainer portions 45, 50 and 54, 56, and 60, 62in between. These cooperate with the minor portions 43, 52, 58, and 64to provide compartments 67, 68, 69', and 70* in between the majorportions, each compartment having a bottom wall but open at the top.

The stack 12 of once-folded flat aprons 13 may be placed on the retainer11 before the retainer 11 is folded, and

then the retainer 11 is folded into the position shown in FIG. 4,thereby putting the apron stack in accordion-like storage position. Thismeans that the side straps 29 and 30, the neck straps 26 and the abdomencovering portion 28 appear on the retainers as shown in FIG. 1. Thus thewalls 45, 50 support the lower portion of the main apron portion, thewalls 54, 56 support the main portion 28 and straps 29 and 30, and thewalls 60, 62 support the straps 29 and 30 and neck straps 26. The majorportions 41 and 66 at the ends serve to space the rack 11 in the box 10and to provide compartments 67 and 70.

The user, in taking an apron out, grasps one at any portion of the apron13 above one of the retainer folds 47, 55 or 61 and is able with histhumb and first finger to immediately separate the top apron 13 from theother other aprons below. Then he simply pulls his selected apron out,leaving all the other aprons in place.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention will suggest themselves without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and thedescription herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be inany sense limiting.

We claim:

1. A package of thin sheet-plastic articles stacked for individualdispensing, comprising an outer box having front, rear, bottom, and endwalls,

a rack folded from a flat sheet providing major upstanding portionsagainst the front and rear walls of the box and a series of majorupstanding portions in between, with minor bottom portions resting onthe bottom wall and cooperating with said major portions and box toprovide compartments,

the series of major upstanding portions comprising a series in which twomajor portions back up each other and are folded flat against each otherby top folds, each group of two such major portions being separated fromthe next major portion on each side by a said minor portion, and

a stack of said plastic articles supported accordion fashion by saidupstanding portions of said rack.

2. A package of thin sheet-plastic aprons stacked for individualdispensing, comprising a stack of said aprons, each folded once and thenstacked,

an outer box having front, rear, bottom, and end walls,

a rack folded from a flat sheet providing major upstanding portionsagainst the front and rear walls of the box and a series of majorupstanding portions in between with minor bottom portions resting on thebottom wall and cooperating with said major portions and box to providecompartments,

the series of major upstanding portions comprising a series in which twomajor portions back up each other and are folded fiat against each otherby top folds, each group of two such major portions being separated fromthe next major portion on each side by a said minor portion,

said plastic aprons being supported accordion fashion by said upstandingportions of said rack.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,051 9/1935 Hermani 220-223,243,079 3/ 1966 Rettmer 22l63 3,332,547 7/1967 Rowe et al. 206-56FOREIGN PATENTS 619,613 10/1935 Germany.

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, 112., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

